Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 13.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,425 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Security National Bank of SO Dak acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.21, for a total value of $454,360.80. Following the sale, the director owned 64,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,764,830.15. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $205.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.81.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Morgan Stanley
More Morgan Stanley News
Here’s some of the latest news about MS:
- Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley agreed to acquire Vinyl Equity, a digital transfer-agent platform. The deal would add share-transfer and shareholder-recordkeeping services to Morgan Stanley at Work, potentially strengthening workplace and wealth-management relationships and helping the firm retain clients as private companies go public. Sidley Represents Morgan Stanley in Its Acquisition of Vinyl Equity
- Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategist Mike Wilson said the market correction may be nearing its end but urged selectivity. A recovery could benefit trading and investment-banking activity, although this is a broad market view rather than a specific forecast for MS. Morgan Stanley strategist on the market correction
- Negative Sentiment: Director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares for about $454,000, trimming her stake by 3.72%. The sale may weigh slightly on sentiment, but she retained more than 64,000 shares, limiting its significance. Morgan Stanley director share sale
Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.6%
MS stock opened at $190.59 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $152.80 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $193.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $297.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.26% and a net margin of 15.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.
Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.51%.
Morgan Stanley Company Profile
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. Its Institutional Securities business offers services such as financial advisory, capital raising, sales and trading, and research. The company also provides financial planning, brokerage and banking services through its Wealth Management business, while its Investment Management business offers investment strategies and portfolio management to a range of clients.
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